Times are rapidly changing and so are the trends in shopping. Goa, which normally used to deal in cash, has post demonetisation, completely reversed its mode of payment.
Big retail stores like Magsons and Delfinos have reported that before November 8, 2016, 80 per cent of the buyers used to spend cash at the register counter and since November 9, 2016, 80 per cent of the purchases were done through credit/debit cards or app.
Magsons which has 11 stores in the State claims to touch 140 areas in the state, which is a large chunk of buyers. “We are trying all means. With our app the response has been very good but it could be better and there is a huge scope in this mode of sale and purchase. We are ensuring that our customers get a better experience, shopping online than walking into our stores. Besides that our loyalty programme has been upgraded and redemption can be done online now from February 27 (today) and it can be done through our app Aaram Shop,” said Kirit Maganlal, proprietor of Magsons.
Magsons now accepts all forms of credit and debit cards, PayTM, Jio Wallet, Sodexo cards, ticket meal voucher cards, etc. Various schemes are also being launched to lure customers. “Bill Buster” is one such programme where a lucky person who buys goods worth Rs 1000 from the store may get an opportunity to buy three other products for Re 1 each.
Also, big retail stores have seen increase in their customer base as the local mom and pop shops were not prepared for online or payment. “Since demonetisation, we have noticed that our customer base has increased by over 30 per cent as their mom and pop shops were not accepting credit or debit cards. And they have remained with us as they found out that our products in many cases are cheaper and is easy to purchase with touch and feel,” said Anil Pereira, director of Delfinos and Champs.
Mr Pereira said that Delfinos and Champs has their products on Amazon and other e-commerce portals. “However, the normal age group visiting our Champs store is between 15-30 years, while at Delfinos it the entire family. Everbody has now got online prices at their finger tips so we have to ensure that pricing of products are reasonably good and competitive,” added Mr Pereira.
He also revealed that he was developing a software which allows a customer to chose the product online and order it and Delfinos will keep that product packed and ready with a QR code. “Time is money. This customer can just come to our store pay online and move with the products. There will be a separate exit counter for such customers. We will not go into home delivery,” added Anil Pereira.
Also, yet another trend which has emerged lately is the attention span of online buyers. It is extremely short and has fallen to goldfish-like levels, and we are only going to grow more impatient and demanding as technology changes and progresses. Hence, marketing of products on retails stores are more direct and upfront. The potentially infinite scrolls of social media newsfeeds and endless streams of content from almost every brand in our mobile flashes with all details including compared price of the same product from different brands. This is making retailers job more difficult as they have to have a large inventory with attractive ever changing prices, primarily dictated by the big e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart etc.
As we share articles after only reading the headline on our whatsapp, in a similar fashion marketing or purchase are now done hurriedly. Without even going through the minute details. In fact, it is not even adhered to as the seller is now willing to exchange or even return the already bought product.
